Saturday, February 6, 2010

Up in the Air

*Jason Reitman*109m*2009*

Ryan (Clooney), a graying bachelor, is a corporate executive, living out of a suitcase, his home the airliner at an altitude of ten kilometers. His ambition is to log ten million kilometers of flying which will entitle him to a badge of recognition from the airline and an interview with the chief pilot. His social circle consists of the airline and hotel employees he encounters as he moves from one hotel and air terminal to another. His job profile is that of a Termination Facilitator, or hatchet man, in a company whose line of business is "down-sizing" of companies. His job is to fire people.

The film gives a picture of the current spate of unemployment in the US. As the script says, loss of a job is a trauma similar to a death in the family. People react in different ways to the shock of leaving a job, and are known to be suicide risks. Loss of one's livelihood is loss of one's dignity as a contributor in society. And you wake up the next day with no-where to go, facing a horrifying succession of Sundays. One's work is what gives structure and sequence to time and loss of occupation throws the pattern of life into disarray. Anger, disbelief, grief--the film captures it all well.

It's a film as perfect as the same director's Juno, and like that film, provides an authentic window to present day US. In spite of a grim theme, there is a lightness, optimism and even joy running through the movie. As Clooney says in the movie, " Living is moving." On a canvas of blue sky or seas of cloud, with two romantic side-plots to add substance to the story, it is as enjoyable and educative as you would like.

I watched the movie last month. I was immediately absorbed in it. The situation is so serious that the movie can be categorized into drama, but this bittersweet movie is also very funny. The scene between Ryan and Alex comparing their cards and memberships is as hilarious as calling card comparison between loathsome yuppies in "American Psycho". And the last sequence reminds me of "Michael Clayton", which uses Clooney's face effectively. "Up in the Air" is somehow uplifting without being sentimental or sugary, and this is quite rare feat.

I especially like that ending, but I don't dare to tell it to people because I will rob them of their own entertainment and elevation then. Maybe we don't like burden in our life or "backpack", but it will be our life support when the time comes.

It's not easy to reduce the size of the backpack because even if you were to discard all your belongings and friends, you have to deal with the pandora's box of your own mind, the desires, the sufferings, the feelings of hatred, jealosy, anger--which in Eastern terms is the back-back of karma we bring with us from previous lifetimes.

I didn't hate this movie, but I didn't really like it that much. Clooney was outacted by both the women, and I thought this was incredibly overrated. There's a lot of fandom for "Hollywood screwball comedies," something I don't exactly find myself watching again and again.